Reading Records: WAGOLL
Your child may sometimes come home from school and say that they have seen a WAGOLL. We often use WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like) to demonstrate how we want a particular piece of work or behaviour to look like. Today I want to share an example of a WAGOLL Reading Record.
Our expectation for pupils is a minimum of 10 to 15 minutes reading at home each day with an adult. When the child has read with their adult, the date, book title and pages read needs to be recorded in the diary section, and the adult needs to sign this. Furthermore, if homework has been set, this must also be completed. This allows the pupil to immerse themselves into the text beyond simply reading to a target page. We are seeing an increasing number of pupils who either forget to bring their reading records or forgot to complete the homework.
It is vital that pupils are reading at home, and completing the homework when set.
Parents, please continue to support your child’s reading at home. Developing their competence in this area is vital in them being able to access the wider curriculum.
Class 5/6A News
Another week done and dusted in Class 5/6A. There’s only 20 days left of school until the Christmas holidays! Let’s catch up on the class goings-on from this week.
In Writing this week we have continued writing our narrative about an apocalyptic world using figurative language. The students have produced some very imaginative work and have really got to grips with engaging their reader in different ways.
Tuesday saw us become physicists in our Science lesson. Pupils recreated the famous experiment of Galileo Galilei to see if objects of differing mass fell to the ground at the same speed. Using a tennis ball, football and basketball, and dropping these from the same height, our students were able to show that despite the differing mass of the objects, the velocity of which they fell was broadly the same.
It has been really pleasing to see the number of pupils who have improved their arithmetic test scores this week in both Year 5 and 6. Year 5 have begun to look at unit and non-unit fractions, whilst Year 6 have explored long division. Parents, you can help support your child’s maths development a home by accessing a number of resources through the Scholes website. Click here https://www.scholeselmet.leeds.sch.uk/learn-more/calculations/ for more details.
Mrs. Thorn and the class have produced some excellent pieces of Art this week. The pupils have been looking at using different mediums, with this week focusing on chalk pastels. They have produced some very colourful pieces as you can see.
In Topic we have looked at how printing on a large scale is used to replicate the works of William Morris. Our pupils have today had a go at their own printing methods to create monochrome leaf pictures.
Before we go, let’s see who the lucky recipients of our certificates are this week:
Great learning – Sam B. Always on time and on task. A great role model for behaviour and attitude to learning and does himself and the class proud.
P.E – Will. Gives 100% in every lesson. Plays every game in the right spirit and is a great partner and teammate.
Living and Learning – Ruby. Polite, considerate and on task. Ruby can always be relied upon to do the right thing first time, every time.
Enjoy your weekend!
Mr. Robson
School Charity
The classes have been busily discussing who we would like our school charity to be this year. All the ideas were brought to the Junior Leadership Team meeting and we discussed which one we would like to support. It was a unanimous decision in support of Cancer Research UK. The JLT will be busy thinking of fundraising ideas for the year and we hope you will support us in this.
If you’d like some more information about the charity, please visit their website.
Living and Learning: Anti-Bullying Week
Children wore odd socks today as part of our anti bullying week. In class, we discussed our definition of what bullying is. Children were very keen to stress the importamce of what they could do to help stop bullying. We also dicussed cyber bullying and the damaging effects that negative messages can have on students.
Children in 56C could talk at length about how to spot bullying and shared their ideas on how to help victims of bullying.
At home, continue this converstaion by discussing this year’s theme which is ‘Reach Out’. Who should you talk to? When should you talk to them? How could we prevent bullying from happening?
Odd sock day!
The children arrived at school this morning looking very unusual – they all had odd socks on! This is to ‘kick off’ Anti-Bullying Week. This week, we will discuss the meaning of the word ‘bullying’ and recognise that everyone is different and that that’s okay.
‘Bullying is when you hurt someone, physically or emotionally (including online), several times on purpose.’
The solution to this is STOP – Start Telling Other People. We talked about which trusted adults the children could talk to if they felt they were being bullied.
Class 5/6A News w/c 7th November
And so we have reached the end of week 2 of this half-term. Only 5 more school weeks until Christmas! (Is it too early to mention that word?) Let’s look at what the class have been up to this week.
In Writing we have begun to plan a short narrative piece about an apocalyptic world. Using a couple of videos as inspiration to help generate ideas and vocabulary, our pupils have been planning how they will set the scene for their narrative, describe their main character and give a brief insight into the plot.
Air resistance has been the focus of our Science work this week, as the pupils explored the effect of this force on different sized parachutes. Using cupcake cases and string to make the parachutes, pupils recorded how long it took them to fall to the floor and drew the conclusion that larger parachutes took the longest because of the increased air resistance.
Year 5 pupils have been exploring one of William Wordsworth’s most famous poems in Reading this week, “Daffodils“. Linking to our writing, we have been identifying how the use of similes, metaphors and personification helps to bring a piece of writing to life and make it engaging for the reader. We have also practised some of our oracy skills by learning the poem by heart and reciting to the rest of the class. I am really proud of the pupils’ efforts on this!
On Monday, the school will be recognising Anti Bullying Week through Odd Socks Day.
For this we ask all pupils to come to school wearing odd socks, to encourage people to express themselves and celebrate their individuality and what makes us all unique! When talking about bullying, Scholes Elmet Primary School defines this as follows:
Bullying is where you hurt someone, physically or emotionally (including online), several times on purpose.
What might bullying look like?
If any of these things happen several (lots of) times, it is bullying.
Hurting peoples’ feelings, for example, name calling, teasing, threatening, ignoring, leaving people out or spreading rumours
Hurting peoples’ bodies, for example, hitting, punching or kicking
Throughout the course of the week, we will be discussing what bullying is, and what we can do as individuals and as a school to prevent it.
Finally, let’s check out certificate winners for this week.
Great Learning – Louis M. Has been on task across all subjects this week. His planning work for his written narrative piece has made for great reading. I can’t wait to see the final version!
Living and Learning – Ben. Is always showing consideration to others in class. Kind, polite and honest, Ben is always making the best possible choices.
P.E – Harry. Has shown some super hockey skills this week with great stick control. He throws himself with enthusiasm into every new task.
Have a lovely weekend!
Mr. Robson
Scholes Show Winners!
We were lucky enough to enjoy an assembly this week in which some winners from Scholes show were announced. This is a yearly event in which children from the local area are encouraged to participate. We had three very surprised winners in our school.
Emma won a huge trophy for the most points overall in the children’s sections, but she also won two more trophies for the best handwriting and baking – well done!
William won a lovely shiny trophy for the best rock painting. He created a circular design using metallic paint.
Clara won a trophy for the best handwriting in the under 8 group – well done.
Let’s hope more children join in next year – it sounds like a lot of fun. Well done again to the winners – keep polishing those trophies!
Art: observational drawings
This art topic has involved the children learning about William Morris – an artist and designer from the Victorian Era. His designs were inspired by nature. This week, we have also used nature to inspire ourselves. Using a selection of leaves, we have completed observational drawings. Whilst sketching, the children had to consider proportion, line, tone and shade. The children were able to complete some excellent, accurate drawings. They were also very confident at looking at each others artwork and talking about strengths and weaknesses – What could the person do to add to their sketch?
Welcome back Class 5/6A
Hello and a big welcome back to all of Class 5/6A pupils after what I hope was an enjoyable half-term break. It’s great to see everyone again. Let’s catch up on what we have been doing this week.
Our Topic focus for this half-term is Art, in particular the works of William Morris and Orla Kiely. We are building up towards creating our own printed floral picture. To provide us with inspiration, we have been comparing examples of Morris’ work, looking at their colours and patterns; and ended the week with some direct observational drawing of leaves. These leaves will form the basis for our printing work later in the term.
In Writing, we have begun to look at figurative writing; using similes, metaphors, expanded noun phrases and alliteration to help engage the reader. The pupils were like a walking dictionary with all of the different figurative vocabulary they used, and I was as pleased as punch to be able to read their work.
We have had a couple of visitors into class this week as part of our Community themed week. On Wednesday we were joined by a member of West Yorkshire Police Force to speak to us about hate crimes, and what we can do to be more aware of and respect the various members of our community. Thursday saw two guests from Selective Silhouettes join us to talk about the LGBTQ+ community.
Year 5 pupils will have brought home a new reading book this week: Kensuke’s Kingdom. This half-term we will be reading the same text in class, and homework will be set based on this. It is very important that pupils are keeping up to date with their reading targets, homework, and bringing their reading records to Book Club on a Friday.
There’s just time to check out our certificate winners this week:
Great Learning – Esme. Always ready to learn. Calm, collected and organised, she sets a great example for our class.
Living & Learning – Louis W. Louis provided some very mature and insightful comments during our Community discussions this week. Well done Louis!
P.E – Ella. Full of energy, and with a smile on her face, Ella is always looking for fun and innovative ways to make P.E fun for her peers and herself.
Have a very happy and healthy bonfire weekend!
Mr. Robson
Topic: art
This week, we have started our new art topic – printing. The first lesson focused on the history of art and we were introduced to William Morris who was an artist and designer. The children had the opportunity to look at some examples of wallpaper designs by Morris and explain their likes and dislikes. The children had to comment on the use of colour and shade. Was there a repeated pattern or any symmetry? The children all identified that William Morris took his inspiration from nature and his wallpapers depict flowers, leaves and birds. They did a great job of applying some artistic vocabulary such as figurative and abstract.
